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THE  PEARL  OF  THE 
ANTILLES 

A  VIEW  OF  THE  PAST  AND  A  GLANCE 
AT  THE  FUTURE 

BY 

FREDERIC  M.  NOA 


NEW  YORK 

1808 


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17  n 

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DEDICATED  TO  THE 

HEROES  AND  HEROINES  OF  AMERICAN 

AND  CUBAN  LIBERTY 


"  In  the  name  of  humanity,  in  the  name  of 
civilization,  in  behalf  of  endangered  American 
interests,  which  give  us  the  right  and  the  duty  to 
speak  and  act,  the  war  in  Cuba  must  stop." 


CPresidem  McKinley's  Special 
Message   to   Congress,    April 


ON  DEPARTING  FROM  CUBA 

(1836) 

Pearl  of  the  Ocean  !     Brightest  star  of  all  ! 

Enchanting  Cuba  !     Stealthily,  in  gloom, 
Night  shrouds  thy   peerless  blue    with  darkest 
pall, 

As  grief,  e'en,  doth  my  pensive  soul  entomb. 
About  to  start  !     The  busy  crew,  aloft, 

To  tear  me  from  mine  own,  my  native  land, 
Now  hoist  the  sails,  and  soon  the  zephyr  soft, 

Wafting  them  on,  blows  from  thy  tropic  strand. 
Farewell,  my  country  bright  !  Thou  Eden  dear, 

Where'er   I'm  wrecked  by  tempest   wild   or 
gale, 
Thy  gentle  name  shall  soothe  my  straining  ear. 

Alas  !  alas  !  How  fills  the  swelling  sail  ! 
The  anchor  's  heaved  !  The  rocking  ship  aside 
Doth  cleave  the  waves,  and  on  in  silence  glide. 

(Rendered  from  the  Spanish  son- 
net of  Gertrudis  Gomez  de 
Avellaneda,  Cuba's  greatest 
poetess  and  dramatist.) 


"  Jamais  colonie  n'  a  ete  aussi  impitoyablement 
exploited  par  une  mere  patrie  cupide  et  impre- 
voyante.  " — Paul  Leroy-Beaui.ieu. 

(De  La  Colonisation  chez  les 
/i?uf>lt-s  moderncs.  Paris  :  Guil- 
laumin  et  Compagnie.  1891 
Pages  266-268.) 

"  No  colony  has  ever  been  as  pitilessly  ex- 
ploited by  a  greedy  and  improvident  mother- 
country." — Paul  Leroy-Beaulieu. 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  the  purpose  and  endeavor  of 
the  writer  to  present  concisely 
the  leading  events  of  Cuban  history, 
and  to  analyze  the  causes  which 
have  driven  the  United  States  into 
war  with  Spain.  Although  an  Eng- 
lishman by  birth,  he  is,  by  adoption 
and  in  spirit,  an  American  citizen. 
In  the  course  of  his  career  as  an 
educator,  he  has  come  in  daily 
contact  with  representatives  of  the 
Spanish-speaking  races,  and  thus 
gained  an  insight  into  their  charac- 
teristics.    He   was    for    some    years 


prctacc. 

intimately   acquainted    with    Sefior 

to,  the  present  Secretary 

of  Cuba,  when  the  latter  was  Spanish 

>ul    in     Philadelphia.      He    knew 

also,  a^  an   intimate   friend,  the  late 

Horace    Mann,    widow  of    the 

Massachusetts  statesman.     Sixty  or 

seventy  years  ago,  this  lady  lived  on 

a    Cuban    plantation  and    witnessed 

the  baneful  effects  of  slavery  under 

the  rule  of  Spain. 

During  the  stirring  events  of  the 
last  few  months,  thoughtful  persons 
have  asked  themselves  questions 
such  as  the  following: 

First,  what  are  the  causes  which, 
for  the  last  thirty  years,  have  kept 
Cuba,  more  or  less,  in  a  turmoil  of 
revolt  and  anarchy  ? 

•ndly.  what  are  the  grievances 
<>f  the  Cubans? 


preface.  xi 

Thirdly,  what  is  the  truth  about 
the  wrongs  and  outrages  they  have 
been  forced  to  bear  ? 

Lastly,  are  the  United  States  jus- 
tified in  resorting  to  war  to  remedy 
these  abuses  ? 

The  author,  having  spent  years  in 
a  close  study  of  the  history  of  Latin 
America,  and  having  had  access  to 
sources  of  information  not  generally 
known,  believes  that  he  can  satisfac- 
torily answer  the  questions  that  are 
agitating  the  public  mind.  He  has 
drawn  not  alone  from  Spanish  and 
Cuban,  but  also  from  American, 
British,  and  French  authorities  and 
records. 

The  subject  of  America's  relations 
with  Spain,  past  and  present,  is  so 
extensive  that,  in  this  little  book, 
much    must    be    left    unsaid.     The 


preface. 

mdid  naval  victory  of  Dewey  at 
Manila  opens  a  wide  field  of  specu- 
lation as  to  the  future  status  of  the 
United  States,  and  what  part  they 
arc  to  take  in  the  settlement  of  the 
complicated  problems  of  the  Old 
World.  The  author  aims  merely  at 
supplying  a  need  required  by  the 
people,  and  leaves  to  larger  works 
the  discussion  of  the  future  interna- 
tional rights  and  obligations  of  the 
United  States. 

F.  M.  Xoa. 
Union  Springs,  N.  Y.,  July  4,  1898. 


THE   PEARL 
OF  THE  ANTILLES. 


THE   PEARL 
OF  THE   ANTILLES. 


THE  distinctive  characteristic  of 
Spanish  colonization  is,  that 
wherever  it  has  been  planted,  the 
curse  and  blight  of  tyranny,  super- 
stition, and  cruelty  have  been  felt. 
Twenty-five  years  had  not  passed 
after  Columbus  discovered  Cuba  be- 
fore the  harmless  Indians  of  the  Is- 
land, unable  to  endure  the  exacting 
labor  of  the  mines,  languished  under 
their  taskmasters,  and  became  virtu- 
ally extinct.  Their  protector,  the 
benevolent  and  philanthropic  priest, 
Las  Casas,  whom  his  contemporaries 
vilified  most    shamefully,    suggested 


2  Cbe  pearl 

that  the  remnant  might  be  saved  by 
importing  a  few  negroes  from  Africa. 
I  [is advice  was  followed,  and,  in  1 524, 
the  first  cargo  was  landed  in  Cuba, 
and  condemned  to  hopeless  bondage. 
Thus  began  the  iniquitous  traffic  in 
African  slaves,  on  which  corrupt  offi- 
cials   fattened,    and    the    horrors    of 
which  filled  Las  Casas  with  such  self- 
reproach  that  he  died  broken-hearted. 
As  though  symbolic  of  her  future 
destiny,  Cuba,  described  by  Colum- 
bus as  "  the  fairest  land  eye  has  ever 
seen,"  was  born  in  the  throes  of  tu- 
mult and  convulsion.     For  two  cent- 
uries and  a  half  her  coast  cities  were 
sacked  or  burned  by  English,  French, 
and  Dutch  pirates,  while  some  of  her 
early    governors    proved,    according 
to    the    Spanish-American    E?uyc/o- 
pedia  (published  in  Barcelona,  Spain), 
"veritable  bandits."     In  1762.  a  Brit- 
ish fleet  captured  Havana.     During 
the  eleven  months  of  English  occu- 
pation, the  port  was  thrown  open  to 


©t  tbe  Snttlles.  3 

the  commerce  of  the  world.  The 
eyes  of  the  Cubans  were  opened,  and 
they  could  never  rest  content  under 
the  old  regime.  By  a  fortunate  ac- 
cident, Spain  herself  came  to  be 
governed,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  by  an  enlightened 
line  of  French  sovereigns,  who  did 
much  to  promote  the  welfare  and  in- 
dustries of  their  transatlantic  colony. 
For  seventy  years,  a  splendid  ship 
and  navy  yard  had  existed  in  Ha- 
vana, but  in  1796,  the  monopolists  of 
Barcelona,  Cadiz,  and  other  Spanish 
ports  succeeded  in  having  it  closed, 
and  one  of  the  seeds  of  hatred  be- 
tween the  Spaniards  and  the  native- 
born  Cubans  was  sown. 

Nevertheless,  so  strong  was  the 
bond  between  Cuba  and  the  mother- 
country,  that  she  remained  loyal  to 
her  during  the  fifteen  years  of  insur- 
rection (18 10-1825)  which  cost  Spain 
the  loss  of  her  vast  Mexican,  Cent- 
ral and  South  American  possessions, 


4  dbe  pearl 

and  resulted  in  their  independence. 
A  .1  reward  for  her  fidelity,  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  gave  Cuba  the  title  of 
"  The  Ever-Faithful  Isle."  She  now 
enjoyed  two  brief  periods  of  consti- 
tutional government  (1812-1814  and 
1818-1823).  During  the  latter,  one 
of  her  most  eminent  sons,  Francisco 
de  Arango,  secured  several  beneficial 
commercial  reforms.  Had  the  Span- 
ish sovereigns  continued  to  pursue  a 
wise  and  enlightened  policy,  the  Cu- 
ban cataclysms  of  the  last  seventy- 
five  years  might  have  been  averted. 
Unfortunately,  the  incompetent  and 
worthless  Ferdinand  VII.,  unmindful 
of  his  promises,  issued  a  decree,  dated 
March  28,  1825,  that  henceforth  the 
Island  should  be  ruled  as  though  it 
were  in  a  perpetual  state  of  siege, 
and  that  the  Governor-General  should 
wield  the  despotic  and  irresponsible 
power  of  a  Russian  czar.  From  that 
moment  began  the  blackest  night  of 
Cuba's  tyranny. — a  night  soon  to  be 


©f  tbe  Bntilles.  5 

dispelled  by  the  glorious  dawn  of 
constitutional  liberty. 

In  1835,  tne  energetic  and  iron 
Tacon  became  Captain-General.  He 
erected  many  public  buildings,  but, 
under  what  has  been  aptly  termed 
his  "  brick-and-mortar  civilization," 
every  liberal  movement  was  sternly 
repressed.  He  enriched  himself  enor- 
mously through  the  slave  traffic, 
yet  his  reactionary  sway  was  not, 
like  that  of  Weyler,  an  unmitigated 
curse  to  the  people  he  ruled.  Ar- 
riving in  a  time  of  chronic  anarchy 
and  political  assassination,  he  summa- 
rily suppressed  crime,  showed  favor 
to  neither  rich  nor  poor,  and  trans- 
ported, exiled,  or  executed  one  thou- 
sand persons  of  all  ranks.  Although 
he  countenanced  corruption,  the 
American,  British,  and  other  foreign 
consuls  of  that  period  unanimously 
testify  to  the  general  good  public 
order  he  maintained. 

Up  to  this  time,  the  four  hundred 


6  Cbe  pearl 

thousand  free  whites  of  Cuba,  who 

had  been  remitting  to  Spain  an 
annual  tribute  of  three  million  dol- 
lars had  enjoyed  the  right  of  send- 
ing two  deputies  to  the  Spanish 
Cortes  at  Madrid.  Suddenly,  on  the 
ioth  of  February,  1837,  this  body 
decreed  that  the  colony  should  be 
deprived  of  representation,  and  that, 
instead,  special  laws  for  its  benefit 
were  to  be  passed.  Forty  years 
elapsed  before  the  mother-country, 
taught  by  the  frightful  experience 
of  a  sanguinary  ten  years'  revolt, 
began  to  fulfil  these  promises. 

Meantime,  the  ever- deepening 
gloom  of  black  slavery  overshadowed 
the  Island.  To  prevent  its  perpetu- 
ation, Great  Britain  induced  Spain 
to  sign,  in  18 17,  a  treaty,  by  the 
terms  of  which  the  importation  of 
slaves  was  prohibited,  severe  penal- 
ties against  violators  enacted,  and 
a  mixed  international  tribunal  estab- 
lished at  Havana.     These  provisions 


©t  tbe  Entitles.  7 

availed  nothing ;  they  were  either 
secretly  evaded  or  openly  defied. 
Governor-Generals  and  all  other 
executive  officials  connived  at  the 
iniquitous  business,  and  reaped  from 
it  unheard-of  profits.  Competent 
and  impartial  observers  declare  the 
condition  of  the  slaves  in  Cuba  as 
indescribably  frightful.  Mrs.  Horace 
Mann,  widow  of  the  Massachusetts 
statesman,  made,  sixty  or  seventy 
years  ago,  a  protracted  stay  on  a 
Cuban  plantation,  and  was  so  horri- 
fied by  what  she  saw  that  she  wrote 
a  novel,  Juanita,  as  thrilling  as 
Uncle  Toms  Cabin.  Still  more  con- 
vincing, because  of  its  official  nature, 
is  the  testimony  of  Mr.  R.  R.  Mad- 
den, British  Judge  of  the  Mixed 
Tribunal  at  Havana,  who  published, 
in  1853,  an  instructive  little  book 
on  The  Island  of  Cuba.  He  tells 
how  slavers  infested  the  ports  of 
Cuba,  and,  if  perchance  the  cargoes 
should  be  confiscated,  means  would 


8  Cbe  pearl 

be  found  secretly  to  convey  the 
"  Bozals,"  as  the  newly  imported 
slaves  were  called,  into  the  interior, 
where  they  would  fetch  twelve  hund- 
red dollars  a  head.  On  the  planta- 
tions, Mr.  Madden  witnessed  slaves 
literally  scourged  to  death,  and  child- 
ren torn  from  their  mothers.  It 
was  customary,  during  the  sugar 
and  tobacco  crop  season,  which 
lasted  about  six  months,  for  slaves 
to  be  worked  every  day  twenty  hours 
at  a  stretch,  the  common  impression 
being  that  "  four  hours'  sleep  was 
sufficient  for  a  slave."  No  wonder 
that,  under  such  a  system,  not  a 
female  nor  an  aged  negro  could  be 
found  on  many  a  plantation. 

In  spite  of  such  excesses  and  crimes 
against  humanity,  Cuba  bore  an 
outward  appearance  of  remarkable 
prosperity,  but,  writing  in  1869,  La- 
rousse,  author  of  the  great  French 
Encyclopedic  Dictionary,  likened  her 
material  progress    to  that    obtained 


©f  tbe  Antilles.  9 

in  ancient  Egypt  by  forced  labor  ; 
and  continued  :  "  The  riches  of  Cuba 
offend  humanity.  Far  from  glorify- 
ing the  industry  of  men,  the  degrad- 
ing spectacle  it  presents  is  an  insult  to 
the  progress  of  the  century!"  He 
expressed  the  fear  that,  when  the 
Cuban  negroes  should  rise  in  arms, 
they  would  spare  neither  the  whites 
who  were  oppressors,  nor  the  whites 
who  were  oppressed.  The  detract- 
ors of  the  negro  race  might  do  well 
to  remember  that  they  have  shown 
a  generous  forgiveness,  and  have 
cheerfully  fought,  side  by  side  with 
their  white  brothers,  in  the  sacred 
cause  of  Cuban  liberty. 

In  addition  to  the  incubus  of  negro 
slavery,  the  restrictive  policy  of  the 
Spanish  government  hastened  the 
revolution  which  must  inevitably 
have  occurred.  Representation,  and 
liberty  of  speech,  conscience,  and  the 
press  were  denied,  while  illiberal 
laws  retarded   commerce  and   immi- 


io  Cbe  pearl 

gration.as  no  white  immigrants  were 
allowed  to  enter  Cuba  who  were  not 
either  Catholics  or  prepared  to  be- 
come such,  although  Chinese  coolies, 
virtually  slaves,  were  freely  imported 
under  contract. 

Utterly  unconscious  of  the  volcano 
beneath  her  feet,  Spain  knew  nothing 
of  the  fearful  corruption,  robbery, 
and  peculation  of  the  Captain-Gen- 
eral, Lerisundi,  and  his  satellites, 
who  sought  to  impose  fresh  burdens 
upon  a  colony  drained  and  exhausted 
by  overtaxation.  "  Such  blindness 
and  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the 
home  government,"  says  the  Spanisli- 
Amcricon  Encyclopedia,  "  could  not 
be  greater  ;  such  a  mass  of  blunders 
gave  great  strength  to  the  separatists, 
and  the  approaching  revolution  in 
Spain  made  things  ripe  for  revolt  in 
Cuba." 

And  now,  in  1868,  the  gathering 
storm,  intensified  by  three  centuries 
and   a  half   of   black   slavery,   burst 


©f  tbe  antilles.  n 

forth,  with  incredible  fury,  in  an  is- 
land equal  in  area  to  Pennsylvania. 
Under  the  consummate  leadership  of 
Mdximo  Gomez,  the  insurrection 
raged,  with  varying  success,  for  ten 
weary  years.  The  one  Spanish  gen- 
eral, Dulce,  who  was  inclined  to  con- 
duct the  war  according  to  civilized 
methods,  was  unceremoniously  de- 
posed by  the  powerful  Volunteer 
troops  of  Havana,  who  were  com- 
posed of  Spanish  and  Cuban  loyalists, 
and  was  ignominiously  sent  back  to 
Spain.  After  his  departure,  the  war- 
fare degenerated  into  indiscriminate 
butchery  and  extermination.  Far 
and  wide,  plantations  were  set  on  fire, 
and  the  wretched  inhabitants  reduced 
to  the  most  dreadful  misery.  Two 
tragedies  especially  shocked  the 
whole  civilized  world  ;  the  first  of 
them  being  when,  in  November,  1871, 
eight  medical  students  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Havana,  who  had  been 
previously  acquitted  of  the  charge  of 


12  Gbc  peart 

having  desecrated  the  grave  of  a  Vol- 
unteer, were  re-arrested,  tried  by  a 
court  packed  by  the  Volunteers,  and 
having  been  condemned,  were  shot, 
in  the  presence  of  fifteen  thousand 
troops,  by  a  detail  under  Capt.  Wey- 
ler.  The  second  tragedy,  which 
almost  produced  war  between  Spain 
and  the  United  States,  and  for  which 
the  former  paid  the  latter  a  very 
large  indemnity,  was  the  well-known 
capture  of  the  American  vessel,  the 
Virginias,  as  she  was  hovering,  in  No- 
vember, 1873,  near  Santiago  de  Cuba. 
The  local  governor  of  that  place  be- 
gan, without  the  formality  of  a  trial,  to 
execute  her  crew,  composed  of  Ameri- 
can citizens  and  British  subjects,  and 
had  already  shot  fifty-three  of  his  vic- 
tims when  the  timely  arrival  of  a 
British  warship  stopped  the  slaughter. 
With  infinite  patience,  tact,  and  for- 
bearance, President  Grant  and  his  ad- 
visers repeatedly  offered  the  friendly 
mediation  of  the  United  States  and 


Ot  tbe  Antilles.  13 

exhausted  every  diplomatic  effort  to 
bring  peace  to  the  desolated  Island 
of  Cuba.  At  length  a  brighter  day 
dawned  when,  in  1877,  the  illustrious 
Marshal  Martinez  de  Campos,  who 
had  successfully  brought  the  civil 
war  of  Spain  to  a  close,  was  sent 
over  with  large  reinforcements,  and 
received  full  powers  to  negotiate  with 
the  Cuban  insurgents. 

"  Convinced  that  the  struggle 
would  never  be  terminated  by  ex- 
termination, but  rather  by  a  spirit  of 
conciliation  and  freedom,  he  was," 
writes  the  Spanish-American  Encyclo- 
pedia, "  the  most  tolerant  and  hu- 
mane of  the  operating  generals  in  the 
bloody  Ten  Years'  War."  His  broad, 
noble  mind  perceived  at  once  where 
the  difficulty  lay,  and,  on  the  19th  of 
May,  1878,  he  wrote  to  Canovas  del 
Castillo,  then,  as  he  was  until  his  re- 
cent assassination,  Prime  Minister  of 
Spain  : 

"  Promises  which  have  never  been 


1 1  vibe  pearl 

fulfilled,  abuses  of  every  kind,  fail- 
ure to  devote  anything  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Interior,  the  exclusion 
of  the  natives  from  every  branch  of 
the  government,  and  another  series 
of  errors,  gave  rise  to  the  insurrection. 
The  belief  of  the  ruling  powers  that 
here  there  was  no  other  method  to 
adopt  than  that  of  terror,  and  that  it 
was  a  question  of  honor  not  to  grant 
reforms  until  not  a  shot  should  be 
heard,  have  continued  it :  persisting 
in  such  a  course,  we  should  never 
end  the  war,  although  the  Island 
should  swarm  with  soldiers :  if  we 
do  not  wish  to  ruin  Spain,  it  is  ne- 
cessary for  us  frankly  to  bestow  lib- 
erty. I  believe  that,  if  Cuba  is  little 
fitted  for  independence,  she  deserves 
to  be  something  more  than  a  mere 
Spanish  province,  and  that  the  horde 
of  bad  officials,  all  from  the  Penin- 
sula, ought  not  to  come  over  ;  finally, 
in  order  to  bring  about  normal  con- 
ditions, participation  in  the  govern- 


©f  tbe  Antilles.  15 

ment  should  be  given  to  the  natives 
of  the  country." 

Immediately  after  his  arrival,  Mar- 
tinez de  Campos  began  active  opera- 
tions, at  the  same  time  adopting 
"  mild  measures  in  spite  of  the  desire 
of  certain  elements  unmindful  of  the 
duties  which  civilization  and  human- 
ity impose  upon  a  regular  govern- 
ment. Thus  passions  were  becoming 
soothed,  and  minds  prepared  for 
peace." ' 

On  the  10th  of  February,  1878, 
General  Campos  met,  at  El  Zanj6n, 
near  Havana,  some  of  the  insurgent 
leaders,  and,  after  a  brief  conference, 
accepted  articles  of  capitulation  which 
were  duly  ratified  by  both  sides,  and 
which  provided,  among  other  things, 
that  a  general  amnesty  and  pardon 
should  be  granted  to  all  insurgents, 
as  well  as  to  deserters  from  the  Span- 
ish army,  who  should  lay  down  their 

1  Spanish- American  Encyclopedia,  article  on 
Martinez  de  Campos. 


16  Che  pearl 

arms  ;  that  persons  under  trial  and 
political  prisoners,  both  within  and 
outside  the  Island,  should  beset  free  ; 
thai  slaves  and  Asiatic  colonists  then 
in  the  insurrectionary  ranks  should 
be  granted  freedom ;  and  that  Cuba 
was  to  enjoy  "  the  same  political 
privileges,  organic  and  administra- 
tive, possessed  by  the  (neighboring) 
island  of  Puerto  Rico" — the  most 
important  of  these  being  the  right  of 
representation  in  the  Spanish  Cortes, 
of  which  right,  for  forty  years,  Cuba 
had  been  unjustly  deprived. 

The  Island  now  became  rapidly 
pacified,  in  spite  of  a  few  lingering  in- 
surrectionary movements,  and  during 
the  succeeding  sixteen  years  appeared 
to  enjoy  comparative  quiet  and  pro- 
sperity. Sixty-four  representatives 
from  Cuba  sat  in  the  Cortes  at  Mad- 
rid, and,  thanks  to  the  united  efforts 
of  disinterested  Cubans  and  Span- 
iards, laws  were  passed  which  gradu- 
ally abolished  slavery  (total  abolition 


Qt  tbe  Antilles,  n 

was  only  accomplished  by  1886),  in- 
sured a  greater  freedom  of  the  press, 
established  the  right  of  petition,  and 
guarded  more  carefully  the  liberty 
of  the  individual. 

The  leading  events  of  the  present 
Cuban  insurrection,  which  began 
three  years  and  a  half  ago,  being 
sufficiently  fresh  in  the  public  mind, 
need  not  be  mentioned  in  detail. 
What  has  astonished  the  civilized 
world  is,  that  Spain,  having,  through 
the  wise  policy  of  Campos,  secured 
an  honorable  peace,  should  not  have 
learned  how  to  deal  justly  by  her 
colonists,  nor  to  bind  them  in  ever 
increasing  bonds  of  love  and  affec- 
tion, but,  on  the  contrary,  discarding 
the  golden  opportunity  of  sixteen 
years'  peace,  should  find  herself  con- 
fronted by  an  insurrection  marked 
with  such  barbarity  and  so  many 
tragedies  as  to  engage  her  at  last  in 
a  life-and-death  struggle  with  the 
United  States. 


i8  Cbe  pearl 

During  the  breathing  space  follow- 
ing the  peace  of  Zanj6n,  the  Cuban 
element  took  an  active  part  in  the 
government.  The  autonomist  or 
constitutional  party,  being  in  the 
majority,  secured  considerable  ame- 
lioration in  the  condition  of  Cuba. 
The  spirit  of  the  age  compelled  re- 
forms :  negro  slavery  and  its  abomin- 
ations gradually  disappeared  ;  and 
nominally  greater  individual  freedom 
prevailed.  But  the  incurable  defects 
always  inseparable  from  the  rule  of 
Spain  quickly  re-asserted  themselves 
and  almost  nullified  the  reforms  ob- 
tained at  so  great  a  sacrifice.  Cor- 
ruption, extortion,  and  abuses  of 
every  sort  flourished  as  of  old.  To 
realize  how  fearful  these  have  been, 
one  needs  to  examine  carefully  the 
debates  of  the  Spanish  Parliament  ; 
to  listen  to  the  addresses  delivered  in 
the  Ateneo,  the  most  learned  soci- 
ety of  Madrid  ;  and  to  hear  the  admis- 
sions and  scathing  denunciations  of 


©f  tbe  Bntilles.  19 

the  Queen  Regent  ;  of  prime  minis- 
ters and  members  of  the  Cortes 
belonging  to  all  parties ;  and  of 
generals  and  distinguished  civil  of- 
ficers who  have  spent  many  years  in 
Cuba. 

The  entire  civil  service  of  the  is- 
land has  always  been,  with  only  a 
few  honorable  exceptions,  rotten  to 
the  core.  In  an  eloquent  discourse, 
delivered,  on  the  19th  of  January, 
1895,  before  the  Ateneo,  the  brilliant 
Spanish  writer,  Eduardo  Dolz,  ex- 
plains the  utter  insecurity  of  the 
tenure  of  officials,  who,  knowing  that 
they  are  liable  to  be  recalled  at  any 
moment,  engage  in  corrupt  practices, 
misappropriate  public  funds,  and  seek 
to  accumulate  a  fortune  within  the 
briefest  time  possible.  No  responsi- 
bility is  exacted  of  these  public  serv- 
ants, and  far  from  being  punished 
for  their  misdeeds,  they  are  fre- 
quently promoted  to  higher  and 
more  lucrative  positions.     He  draws 


m  XLbc  pearl 

a  dark  picture  of  the  hydra-headed 
ramifications  of  official  corruption, 
which  in  the  matter  of  customs  alone 
has  defrauded  the  state  of  $200,000,- 
000  within  the  space  of  twenty-four 
years, — a  sum  very  nearly  sufficient 
to  have  paid  off  the  Cuban  debt,  to 
have  met  current  expenses,  and  to 
have  promoted  the  general  welfare 
and  prosperity  of  the  country. 

General  Pando,  who  has  seen  years 
of  hard  service  in  Cuba,  spoke,  on 
the  22d  of  March,  1890,  in  the  Span- 
ish House  of  Deputies,  and  bitterly 
inveighed  against  the  political  turpi- 
tude of  Cuban  administration.  He 
told  of  General  Salamanca,  who,  hav- 
ing long  advocated,  before  the  Senate 
at  Madrid,  the  cause  of  the  colony, 
was  sent  over  to  act  as  Governor- 
General.  By  tremendous  exertions, 
and  incurring  the  deadly  enmity  of 
powerful  cliques,  the  latter  brought 
a  notorious  forger  and  embezzler, 
Oteiza,  to  justice  and  had  him  con- 


Qt  tbe  Entitles.  21 

demned  to  eighteen  years'  imprison- 
ment in  chains.  The  effort  cost 
Salamanca  his  life.  Unable  to  cure 
the  leprosy  of  political  corruption, 
he  died  broken-hearted,  after  a  brief 
illness.  His  successors  could  not,  or 
would  not,  continue  his  good  work. 
Instances  might  be  cited  of  powerful 
criminals  on  whom  sentence  has  been 
suspended  for  a  dozen  years. 

Another  terrible  evil  of  the  Cuban 
people,  is  the  staggering  load  of 
taxation  and  debt  they  have  been 
compelled  to  bear.  If  it  be  urged 
that  they  are  justly  made  to  bear 
these  burdens  because  of  insurrection, 
how  is  it  that  the  northern  provinces 
of  Spain,  so  frequently  rebelling 
against  the  authority  of  Madrid,  are 
dealt  with  far  more  leniently  ?  How 
is  it  that,  during  sixteen  years  of 
uninterrupted  peace  (1878-1895),  the 
expenditures  of  Cuban  administra- 
tion were  $210,000,000  heavier  than 
in  the  period  of  the  exhausting  Ten 


32  Cbe  pearl 

I*    War  ;    and    the    taxes    were 

iter  by  $150,000,000  ?  Examin- 
ing further  the  report,  published 
April  8,  1892,  by  M.  C.  Villa-Amil. 
Superintendent  of  the  Treasury  of 
Cuba,  and  supplemented  by  later 
data  from  the  royal  Gazette  of  Mad- 
rid, how  does  it  happen  that,  in  a 
country  the  size  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  having  a  population  of  less  than 
two  millions,  a  sum  ($  1 ,400,000,000) 
should  have  been  obtained  by  taxa- 
tion between  1850  and  1895,  which 
is  equal  to  the  entire  public  debt  of 
the  United  States? 

The  galling  nature  of  Cuban  taxa- 
tion can  best  be  grasped  by  examin- 
ing the  Madrid  Gaacta,  the  official 
organ  and  journal  of  the  Spanish 
government.  Thus,  taking  the  issue 
of  April  8,  1892,  we  find  excessive 
crown  dues,  taxes  on  mines,  urban 
and  rural  real  estate,  and  tribute  on 
commerce,  arts,  and  professions. 
In  addition,  there  are  import  and  ex- 


©f  tbe  Antilles.  23 

port  duties,  imposts  on  transportation 
of  merchandise,  stamp  taxes  of  every 
conceivable  sort,  lotteries,  monopo- 
lies, charges  on  property  for  rent  or 
sale,  and  other  exactions  too  numer- 
ous to  mention.  The  grand  total 
thus  raised  by  taxation  reached 
$21,500,000,  of  which,  in  round 
numbers,  little  more  than  $450,000 
was  spent  on  education  and  internal 
improvements,1  the  rest  being  de- 
voted to  expenditures  to  meet  the 
Cuban  debt  and  for  the  home  gov- 
ernment of  Spain  (which  together 
consumed  over  $10,000,000) ;  war  and 
navy  departments,  $6,400,000  ;  civil 
administration  and  police,  $3,200,- 
000;  cost  of  justice,  $715,000;  and 
the  encouragement  of  agriculture, 
$568,000.  Such  the  record  in  a  year 
of  uninterrupted  peace. 

This  glaring    misappropriation   of 
the  taxes  wrung  out  of  the  Cuban 

1  Exactly  what  General  Campos  complained  of 
in  1 878.     See  his  letter  to  Canovas,  already  cited. 


Che  pearl 

has  been  aggravated  by 
unjust  commercial  discrimination. 
Thus,  the  duties  on  imports  have 
been  so  arranged  that  many  articles 
of  textile  manufacture  are  taxed 
twenty  times  higher  when  imported 
from  foreign  countries  than  when 
brought  from  Spain. 

The  public  debt  of  the  Island  had 
grown,  b)-  the  beginning  of  1895,  be- 
fore the  outbreak  of  the  present  in- 
surrection, to  the  fabulous  sum  of 
-  >.ooo,ooo.  It  originated  in  1864 
through  a  simple  issue  of  $3,000,000, 
and  kept  on  increasing  at  an  alarm- 
ing rate,  although,  from  1878  to  June 
30,  1 89 1.  $115,336,304  were  paid  in 
interest  and  redemption.1  The  debt 
was  incurred  very  largely  on  account 
of  the  foolish  and  extravagant  wars 
which  Spain  chose  to  wage  against 
her  former  dependencies  of  Mexico, 

Speed)  0!  S<  Castafieda,  in  Span- 

i>h  Senate.  June  24,  1891.    See  also  El  Globo,  of 
Madrid,  October  27,  1891. 


Qt  tbe  Bnttllee.  25 

Santo  Domingo,  Peru,  and  Chili. 
The  late  Prime  Minister,  Canovas 
del  Castillo,  endeavored  to  justify 
placing  these  burdens  upon  Cuba  by 
referring  to  the  terrible  losses  the 
mother-country  had  suffered  owing 
to  many  disastrous  wars,  adding  that 
portions  of  the  debt  dated  as  far  back 
as  the  time  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip 
II.,  and  that  the  Cubans  ought  to 
bear  their  share  of  the  national  obli- 
gations.1 

The  contentions  of  Canovas,  even 
if  granted  as  correct,  might  have 
been  accepted,  had  the  Cubans  not 
been  compelled  to  pay  more  than 
their  just  proportion.  But,  in  1891, 
the  total  national  debt  of  Spain  and 
her  dependencies  is  stated  as  $1,211,- 
453,696.  On  this,  the  interest  and 
sinking  fund  were  thus  apportioned 
between  Spain  and  Cuba: 

1  Reply  of  Senor  D.  Antonio  Canovas  del  Cas- 
tillo to  Senor  Jorrin,  Spanish  Senate,  January 
22,  1880. 


2h  Cbc  pearl 

To  Spain S56,752,35S 

To  Cuba 10,435,183 

Total 67,187,538 

At  the  same  time,  the  population 
of  Spain  was  17,545,160,  and  of  Cuba, 
1,631,687.  In  other  words,  the  mo- 
ther-country paid  only  $3.23  per 
capita,  while  the  colony  gave  $6.39, 
or  about  double.' 

The  apologists  of  Spain  have  said 
much  about  the  admirable  self-gov- 
ernment of  Cuba,  which  they  main- 
tain is  superior  to  the  home  rule 
enjoyed  by  Canada.  The  subject 
deserves  investigation.  Immediately 
after  the  close  of  the  Ten  Years'  War 
the  Cuban  element  controlled  the 
elections,  and  obtained,  as  has  al- 
ready been  shown,  several  important 
reforms.  But  before  long  matters 
were  so  manipulated  that  a  majority 

1  The  Island  of  Cuba,  by  A.  S.  Rowan  and 
If.  M.  Ramsey,  p.  143,  and  Cuba,  Justification 
de  su   Guerra  </<•   Independenda,    por    R.    M. 

Mcrchan. 


Qt  tbe  Bntflles.  27 

of  the  delegates  sent  to  represent 
Cuba  in  the  Parliament  at  Madrid 
were  peninsular  Spaniards,  or,  if 
Cubans,  adherents  of  the  dominant 
party  of  Spain. 

The  peculiar  workings  of  the  laws 
relating  to  suffrage  have  been  ex- 
haustively exposed  by  the  gifted 
Cuban  writer,  Enrique  Jos6  Varona.' 
In  order  to  reduce  the  number  of 
voters  and  increase  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  peninsular  Spaniards,  who 
constitute  only  nine  per  cent,  of  the 
population,  a  very  high  property 
qualification  was  exacted  which  dis- 
qualified the  Cuban  planters,  already 
impoverished  by  the  exhausting  Ten 
Years'  War.  Thus,  it  happened  that 
53,000  out  of  1,600,000  inhabitants 
enjoyed  the  right  of  voting.  Every 
advantage  has  been  accorded  to 
wealthy  capitalists,  merchants,  plant- 
ers,   and   commercial   houses,   while 

'  See  his  treatise,  Cuba  contra  Espafia  ("  Cuba 
against  Spain  "). 


28  Cbe  pearl 

landholders  of  limited  means  have 
been  required  to  pay  $25  for  the 
poor  privilege  <>f  voting.  The  sim- 
ple affirmation  of  business  firms  has 
been  sufficient  to  include  all  their 
employees  as  partners,  with  the  right 
to  vote  subject  to  their  masters'  dic- 
tation. Worse  yet,  a  commission 
appointed  by  the  Governor-General 
revised  the  lists  of  electors.  An  ap- 
peal to  the  higher  court  (Audicncia) 
of  a  district  would  avail  little.  One 
thousand  duly  qualified  liberal  elect- 
ors of  the  Province  of  Santa  Clara 
found,  in  1892,  their  claims  rejected 
"  for  the  simple  omission  to  state 
their  names  at  the  end  of  the  docu- 
ment presented  by  the  elector  who 
headed  the  claim." 

"  It  will  be  easily  understood  now 
why  on  some  occasions  the  Cuban 
representation  in  the  Spanish  Parlia- 
ment has  been  made  up  of  only  three 
deputies,  and  in  the  most  favorable 
epochs   the   number   of    Cuban    re- 


Of  tbe  Bntlllea.  29 

presentatives  has  not  exceeded  six. 
Three  deputies  in  a  body  of  four 
hundred  and  thirty  members  !  The 
genuine  representation  of  Cuba  has 
not  reached  sometimes  0.96  per  cent, 
of  the  total  number  of  members  of 
the  Spanish  Congress.  The  great 
majority  of  the  Cuban  deputation 
has  always  consisted  of  Spanish  Pen- 
insulars. In  this  manner,  the  min- 
isters of  '  Ultramar  '  (ministers  of 
the  Colonies),  whenever  they  have 
thought  necessary  to  give  an  honest 
or  decent  appearance  to  their  legisla- 
tive acts  by  an  alleged  majority  of 
Cuban  votes,  could  always  command 
the  latter,  that  is,  the  Peninsulars. 

"  As  regards  the  representation  in 
the  Senate,  the  operation  has  been 
more  simple  still.  The  qualifications 
required  to  be  a  Senator  have  proved 
to  be  an  almost  absolute  prohibition 
to  the  Cubans.  In  fact,  to  take  a 
seat  in  the  higher  house,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  been  president  of  that 


3o  Gbe  pearl 

body  or  of  Congress,  or  a  minister  of 
the  crown,  or  a  bishop,  or  a  grandee 
of  Spain,  a  lieutenant-general,  a  vice- 
admiral,  ambassador,  minister  pleni- 
potentiary, counsellor  of  state,  judge 
or  attorney-general  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  of  the  Court  of  Accounts,  etc. 
No  Cuban  has  ever  filled  any  of  the 
above  positions,  and  scarcely  two  or 
three  are  grandees.  The  only  nat- 
ives of  Cuba  who  can  be  senators 
are  those  who  have  been  deputies  in 
three  different  Congresses,  or  who 
are  professors  and  have  held  for  four 
years  a  university  chair,  provided 
that  they  have  an  income  of  $1500; 
or  those  who  have  a  title  of  nobility, 
or  have  been  deputies,  or  mayors  in 
towns  of  over  20,000  inhabitants,  if 
they  have  in  addition  an  income  of 
$4000  or  pay  a  direct  contribution 
of  $800  to  the  Treasury.  This  will 
increase  in  one  or  two  dozen  the 
number  of  Cubans  qualified  to  be 
senators. 


©t  tbe  Bntilles.  31 

"  In  this  manner  has  legislative 
work,  as  far  as  Cuba  is  concerned, 
turned  out  to  be  a  farce.  The  various 
governments  have  legislated  for  the 
island  as  they  pleased.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  peninsular  provinces 
did  not  even  take  the  trouble  of  at- 
tending the  sessions  of  the  Cortes 
when  Cuban  affairs  were  to  be  dealt 
with ;  and  there  was  an  instance 
when  the  estimates  (budget)  for  the 
Great  Antille  were  discussed  in  the 
presence  of  less  than  thirty  deputies, 
and  a  single  one  of  the  ministers,  the 
minister  of  'Ultramar'  (Colonies) 
(session  of  April  3,  1880). 

"As  may  be  seen,  the  crafty 
policy  of  Spain  has  closed  every 
avenue  through  which  redress  might 
be  obtained.  All  the  powers  are 
centred  in  the  government  at  Mad- 
rid and  its  delegates  in  the  Colony ; 
and,  in  order  to  give  her  despotism  a 
slight  varnish  of  a  representative  re- 
gime,  she   has   contrived    with   her 


32  Gbc  pearl 

laws  to  secure  complaisant  majorities 
in  the  pseudo-elective  bodies. 

"To  accomplish  this  purpose  she 
has  relied  upon  the  European  immi- 
grants, who  have  always  supported 
the  government  of  the  Metropolis  in 
exchange  for  lasting  privileges. 

"  How  far  the  resident  Spaniards 
monopolize  the  electoral  franchise  is 
shown  by  the  single  fact  that,  al- 
though in  every  ioo  of  the  popula- 
tion there  are  only  10  Spaniards  as 
against  90  Cubans,  for  every  re- 
presentative elected  by  the  Cubans 
the  Spaniards  elect  at  least  7  and 
sometimes  10.  In  other  words,  the 
1,450,000  Cubans  are  represented, 
when  most  successful,  by  7  deputies, 
and  sometimes  by  only  3,  while  the 
160.000  Spaniards  residing  in  the 
island  have  been  represented  by  23 
deputies  and  sometimes  by  as  many 
as  27,  the  total  number  being  40. 
Such  facts  need  no  commentary."  l 

1  The  above    extracts    from    Varona's   work 


Ot  tbe  Bnttlles.  33 

This  terrible  indictment  is  con- 
firmed by  El  Pais  of  Havana,  the 
official  organ  of  the  autonomist  party, 
often  persecuted  by  the  Spanish 
authorities,  yet  always  loyal  to  the 
sovereign  of  Spain.  In  its  issue  of 
February  4,  1891,  El  Pais,  speaking 
of  the  electoral  and  representative 
system,  says : 

"  So  much  is  certain  :  the  represent- 
ative system  is  here  (in  Cuba)  a 
wretched  farce,  a  centre  of  infection, 
an  opportunity  to  use  the  system 
shamelessly  and  without  fear  of 
punishment  as  a  stepping-stone  for 
the  satisfaction  of  vulgar  ambition. 
Wherefore  speak  of  the  will  of  the 
electoral  body,  a  body  that  is  prosti- 
tuted and  a  will  that  is  abject? 
Parties  which  do  not  care  to  display, 
by  their  actions,  genuine  respect  for 
the  natural  exigencies  and  the  pro- 
can  be  found  in  Cuba,  by  Fidel  G.  Pierra,  ex- 
Secretary  of  the  Pan-American  Congress,  pp. 
23-25. 
3 


34  Gbc  pearl 

per  conditions  of  the  representative 
system,  do  not  deserve  to  live. 
With  insults  to  public  law  and  con- 
science such  as  have  occurred  in  the 
district  of  Punta  y  Colon,  every 
honest  breast  will  feel  invincible  re- 
puguance  to  electoral  gatherings 
converted  into  depositaries  of  filth, 
and  into  dens  of  felons  ;  and  thus 
the  representation  of  the  country 
will  fall  into  impure  hands,  and  serve 
merely  to  advance  promiscuous  and 
rapacious  adventurers." 

Less  than  a  month  after  the  gifted 
young  Cuban  poet,  Jos6  Marti,  had 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  the 
Spanish  Cortes  passed  a  law  which, 
in  a  measure,  reformed  the  methods 
of  representation  and  voting,  but  did 
not  strike  at  the  root  of  the  abuses 
just  enumerated.  Self-government, 
as  the  term  is  understood  in  Canada 
and  Australia,  has  never  existed  in 
Cuba,  nor  can  it  flourish  there  so 
long  as  the  island  is  ruled  by  a  na- 


Of  tbe  Bntilles.  35 

tion  like  Spain,  which  is  wedded  to 
medieval  habits  of  thought  and  ad- 
ministration. The  so-called  plans  of 
autonomy,  including  the  decree  of 
Sagasta,  which  is  by  far  the  most 
liberal,  strike  only  at  the  surface  of 
the  cancer  which  is  eating  away  the 
vitality  of  Cuba.  The  insular  cham- 
bers at  Havana  are  a  parliament  only 
in  name.  They  possess  no  real  legis- 
lative power.  There  are  no  inde- 
pendent and  free  courts  of  justice. 
The  authority  of  the  Captain-Gen- 
eral remains  paramount.  He  and  his 
irresponsible  civil  and  military  satel- 
lites may  still  suspend  every  consti- 
tutional guarantee.1 

Irresponsible,  despotic  rule,  stag- 
gering debt  and  taxation,  unblushing 
corruption  of  every  kind,  these  are 
startling  and  terrible  evils,  but  they 
fail  to  reveal  the  darkest  portion  of 
the  picture.     That  which  casts  such  a 

1  See  Appendix  for  a  summary  of  Sagasta's 
decree  of  autonomy. 


3<>  Cbe  pearl 

deep  gloom  of  tragedy  over  wretched 
Cuba,  is  the  utter  miscarriage  of  jus- 
tice, and  the  failure  to  protect  life 
and  punish  criminals.  On  this  sub- 
ject, Seflor  Varona  says,  in  his  cele- 
brated work,  Cuba  against  Spain  : 
"  Personal  security  is  a  myth 
among  us.  Outlaws,  as  well  as  men 
of  law,  have  disposed  at  will  of  the 
property,  the  peace,  and  the  life  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Cuba.  The  civil 
guard  (armed  police),  far  from  being 
the  guardians,  have  been  the  terror 
of  the  Cuban  peasants.  Wherever 
they  pass  they  cause  an  alarm  by 
the  brutal  ill-treatment  to  which  they 
subject  the  inhabitants,  who,  in  many 
cases,  fly  from  their  homes  at  their 
approach.  Under  the  most  trifling 
pretext  they  beat  unmercifully  the 
defenceless  countrymen,  and  very 
frequently  they  have  killed  those 
they  were  conveying  under  arrest. 
These  outrages  became  so  notorious, 
that  the  commander-in-chief  of   the 


Ot  tbe  Bntitles.  37 

civil  guard,  Brigadier-General  Denis, 
had  to  issue  a  circular,  in  which  he 
declared  that  his  subordinates  "  un- 
der pretext  of  obtaining  confidential 
information,  resorted  to  violent  meas- 
ures," and  that  "  the  cases  are  very- 
frequent  in  which  individuals  ar- 
rested by  forces  of  the  corps  attempt 
to  escape,  and  keepers  find  them- 
selves in  the  necessity  of  making  use 
of  their  weapons."  What  the  above 
declarations  signify  is  evident,  not- 
withstanding the  euphemisms  of  the 
official  language.  The  object  of  this 
circular  was  to  put  a  stop  to  these 
excesses;  it  bears  the  date  of  1883. 
But  the  state  of  things  continued 
the  same.  In  1886  the  watering 
place  of  Madruga,  one  of  the  most 
frequented  summer  resorts  in  the 
island,  witnessed  the  outrageous  at- 
tacks of  Lieutenant  Sainz.  In  1887 
occurred  the  stirring  trial  of  the  "  com- 
ponte,"  occasioned  by  the  applica- 
tion of  torture  to  the  brothers  Aruca, 


Cbc  peart 

and  within  a  few  clays  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Havana  were  recorded 
the  cases  of  Seflor  Riveron,  who  was 
stabbed  in  Govea  by  individuals  of 
the  public  force;  of  Don  Manuel 
Martinez  Moran  and  Don  Francisco 
Gelanena,  who  were  beaten,  the 
former  in  Calabazar,  and  the  latter 
in  Yaguajay ;  of  Don  Jos£  Felipe 
Canosa,  who  narrowly  escaped  being 
murdered  in  San  Nicholas,  and  of  a 
resident  of  Ceiba  Mocha,  whom  the 
civil  guards  drove  from  his  home. 

"This  was  far  from  the  worst.  In 
the  very  centre  of  Havana,  in  the 
Camp  de  Marte,  a  prisoner  was  killed 
by  his  guards,  and  the  shooting  at 
Amarillas  and  murders  at  Puentes 
Grandes  and  Alquizar  are  deeds  of 
woful  fame  in  the  country.  The 
administration  of  General  Prender- 
gast  has  left  a  sorrowful  recollection 
for  the  frequency  with  which  prison- 
ers who  attempted  to  escape  were 
shot  down. 


Qt  tbe  Bntilles.  39 

"  The  deportations  for  political 
offences  have  not  been  discontinued 
in  Cuba,  and  although  it  is  stated 
that  no  executions  for  political  of- 
fences have  taken  place  since  1878,  it 
is  because  the  government  has  re- 
sorted to  the  more  simple  expedient 
of  assassination.  General  Polavieja 
has  declared  with  the  utmost  cool- 
ness that  in  December,  1880,  he  had 
265  persons  seized  in  Cuba,  Palma, 
San  Luis,  Songo,  Guantanamo,  and 
Sagua  de  Tanamo,  and  transported 
the  same  day  and  the  same  hour  to  the 
African  island  of  Fernando  Poo.  At 
the  close  of  the  insurrection  of  1879 
-1880,  it  was  a  frequent  occurrence 
for  the  government  to  send  to  the 
penal  colonies  of  Africa  the  Cubans 
who  had  capitulated.  The  treachery 
of  which  General  Jose  Maceo  was  a 
victim  carries  us  to  the  darkest  times 
of  the  war  of  Flanders  and  the  con- 
quest of  America. 

"  Cuba    recalls   with    horror    the 


40  Cbe  pearl 

dreadful  assassination  of  Brigadier- 
General  Arcadio  Leytc  Vidal,  perpe- 
trated in  the  bay  of  Nipe  in  Septem- 
ber of  1879.  War  had  just  broken 
out  anew  in  the  Eastern  Department. 
Brigadier-General  Leyte  Vidal  re- 
sided in  Mayari,  assured  by  the 
solemn  promise  of  the  Spanish  com- 
mander-in-chief of  that  zone  that  he 
would  not  be  molested.  One  month 
had  elapsed  since  the  uprising,  how- 
ever, when  having  gone  to  Nipe,  he 
was  invited  by  the  commander  of 
the  gunboat  Alarma  to  take  dinner 
on  board.  Leyte  Vidal  went  on 
board  the  gunboat,  but  never  re- 
turned. He  was  strangled  in  a  boat 
by  three  sailors,  and  his  corpse  cast 
into  the  sea.  This  villainous  deed 
was  committed  in  compliance  with 
an  order  from  the  Spanish  General 
Polavieja.  Francisco  Leyte  Vidal,  a 
cousin  to  Arcadio,  miraculously  es- 
caped the  same  tragic  fate. 

"The  mysterious  death  of  Cubans 


©f  tbe  Bnttlleg.  41 

who  had  capitulated  long  before  have 
been  frequent  in  Cuba.  To  one  of 
these  deaths  was  due  the  uprising  of 
Tunas  de  Bayamo  in  1879."  ' 

How  much,  during  sixteen  years 
of  peace,  personal  security  has  been 
a  myth  among  the  Cubans  is  illus- 
trated by  one  of  the  most  atrocious 
political  assassinations  which  has  ever 
disgraced  the  regime  of  Spain.  The 
crime  occurred  twenty-one  miles 
south  of  Havana,  on  the  night  of  the 
6th  of  August,  1888.  The  newspaper, 
El  Pais,  edited  and  controlled  by  the 
autonomists  who  are  now  prominent 
members  of  Blanco's  cabinet,  pub- 
lished very  full  details  of  this  crimi- 
nal conspiracy. 

Santiago  de  las  Vegas  and  Bejucal 
are  two  towns  of  considerable  size, 
situated  some  six  to  ten  miles  apart. 
In  the  former,  the  Cuban  population 

1  The  translations  of  these  extracts  from  Va- 
rona's  Cuba  contra  Espaita,  are  taken  from 
Fidel  G.  Pierra's  Cuba. 


42  tfbe  pearl 

predominates.  A  number  of  the 
highest  society  of  this  place  had 
been  invited  to  attend  a  ball  in 
Bejucal.  Mysterious  rumors  and 
threats  against  the  lives  of  several 
distinguished  persons  were  circulated 
some  days  before.  On  the  evening 
of  the  ball,  the  carriage  containing 
the  ladies  invited  had  gone  half  the 
journey,  when  they  were  suddenly 
confronted,  at  a  spot  admirably 
adapted  for  an  ambuscade,  by  ninety 
armed  ruffians,  conveniently  ar- 
ranged in  groups  of  ten  or  fifteen. 
The  lucky  accident  that  a  lady  of 
the  party  was  a  friend  of  one  of  the 
conspirators  deterred  them  from  at- 
tacking the  defenceless  women,  who 
were  allowed  to  go  on,  though 
grossly  insulted  and  termed  prosti- 
tutes. Following  the  ladies,  came  a 
carriage  having  twenty-four  occu- 
pants, most  of  them  youths  of  seven- 
teen to  twenty  years.  The  prey  so 
impatiently  waited  for  was  entrapped. 


©f  tbe  Antilles.  43 

The  assassins  hidden  in  the  brush 
fired  a  number  of  rapid  volleys  at 
the  carriage,  which  fortunately  had 
iron  sides,  otherwise  the  slaughter 
would  have  been  awful.  As  it  was, 
one  young  Cuban  was  killed  and  two 
wounded,  one  of  them  mortally. 
Satisfied  with  their  work,  the  assail- 
lants  went  off  exultant.  Although 
the  authorities  of  Santiago  de  las 
Vegas  had  been  fully  cognizant 
of  what  was  going  to  happen, 
not  the  slightest  precautions  were 
adopted,  the  police  were  absent,  the 
military  commander  could  not  be 
found,  the  mayor  and  municipal 
judge  had  disappeared,  and  troops 
were  not  to  be  seen. 

After  the  crime  had  been  com- 
mitted, all  this  lack  of  vigilance  was 
changed,  because  the  authorities  were 
apprehensive  that  the  enraged  citi- 
zens would  rise  in  revolt.  Santiago 
de  las  Vegas  resembled  a  besieged 
city.     Large  bodies  of  soldiers  and 


u  Che  pearl 

police  patrolled  the  streets.  Every 
step  was  taken  to  forestall  an  insur- 
rection, but  the  perpetrators  of  a 
crime  which,  in  the  burning  language 
of  the  autonomist  organ,  El  Pais, 
"  makes  one's  blood  boil,"  were 
never  brought  to  justice.  As  this 
journal  truly  wrote,  addressing  the 
Governor  of  Havana  :  "  May  the 
Civil  Governor  hearken  to  our  sup- 
plication ;  we  do  not  to-day  request 
either  autonomy,  or  liberty,  or  self- 
government,  or  houses  of  congress  ; 
but  simply  individual  security,  the 
protection  of  our  lives  and  property. 
This  is  the  least  that  could  be 
petitioned  of  the  commander  of 
an  invading  army  in  a  conquered 
country." 

Enough  has  been  said  to  illustrate 
the  grinding  tyranny  that  has  con- 
verted Cuba's  beautiful  land  into  a 
desolate  wilderness.  "  But  after  all," 
certain  journals  object,  "  to  get  rid 
of    Spanish    domination    will    only 


©f  tbe  Bntllles.  45 

result  in  substituting  the  arbitrary 
sway  of  some  native  dictator  for  the 
despotism  of  the  Queen  Regent." 

On  what  is  this  assumption  based  ? 
Can  it  be  fortified  by  reference  to  the 
worst  misruled  republics  of  South 
America,  such  as  Venezuela?  In 
all  the  years  the  writer  has  spent  as 
a  close  student  of  South  American 
history,  he  has  failed  to  find  a  con- 
dition of  affairs  as  intolerable  as  that 
of  Cuba.  The  two  most  monstrous 
native  tyrants  of  Latin  America 
were  Lopez,  of  Paraguay,  and  Rosas, 
of  Argentina.  To  them  cold-blooded 
slaughter  was  as  child's  play.  They 
hounded  down  their  political  oppon- 
ents and  inaugurated,  during  twenty- 
five  years,  a  reign  of  terror.  Yet 
even  they  were  humane  compared 
to  Weyler,  whose  "  brutal  and  stupid 
policy"  the  better  class  of  Spaniards 
themselves  denounce.  They  did 
not  gather  the  rural  non-combatants, 
tender    children,    helpless     women, 


Cbe  pearl 

feeble  old  men  into  crowded,  un- 
wholesome quarters  in  towns,  there 
sl<»\vly  to  die  of  disease  and  starva- 
tion. 

That,  since  their  independence, 
Mexico,  Central  and  South  America 
have  been  convulsed  with  revolution 
and  anarchy,  cannot  be  denied ; 
nevertheless,  the  trend  of  their 
destiny  and  aspirations  has  ever 
been  upward.  In  enlightenment 
and  progress,  Mexico  has  advanced 
by  leaps  and  bounds.  In  Chili  and 
Columbia,  orderly  self-government 
is  becoming  firmly  rooted.  In  the 
Argentine  Republic  millions  of  dol- 
lars have  been  spent  on  immigration 
and  education,  and,  for  thirty  years, 
the  public  school  and  kindergarten 
systems  of  the  United  States  have 
been  extensively  introduced,  even 
to  the  most  remote  districts. 

There  is  no  reason  why,  under  the 
guidance  of  America,  the  Cubans, 
once  given  a  fair  chance,  should  not 


©f  tbe  Hntilles.  47 

establish  a  decent  and  stable  govern- 
ment. The  negroes,  a  possible  source 
of  danger,  are  decreasing  year  by 
year,  and  now  constitute  not  more 
than  one  fourth  of  the  population. 
One  of  the  most  difficult  obstacles  to 
progress  in  South  America,  namely, 
millions  of  wild  Indians,  does  not 
exist  in  Cuba.  Under  extreme  pro- 
vocation, the  Cubans  have  proved 
their  law-abiding  spirit,  and  in  the 
sixteen  years  following  the  peace  of 
El  Zanj6n,  exhausted  every  consti- 
tutional expedient  to  correct  abuses. 
As  regards  intelligence  and  virtues, 
it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Spanish 
Deputy,  Castaneda,  that  the  lowest 
peasants  of  Cuba  are  as  fully  capa- 
ble of  using  their  political  rights 
properly  as  are  their  Spanish  breth- 
ren. 

It  seems  to  be  forgotten  that  the 
afflictions  of  Cuba  have  compelled 
her  most  illustrious  children  to  wan- 
der, during  seventy-five  years,  over 


r  (Tbe  pearl 

the  civilized  world,  where,  in  the  lands 
<>f  their  adoption,  they  have  rendered 
important  political  services,  and 
adorned  literature,  history,  econom- 
ics, sociology,  music,  art,  and  science. 
The  most  enlightened  Spaniards 
freely  concede  the  genius  and  en- 
dowment of  the  Cuban  people.  In 
Madrid  and  the  principal  cities  of 
Spain,  the  dramas  of  a  woman, 
Cuba's  greatest  poetess,  Gertrudis 
Gomez  de  Avellaneda,  have  been  re- 
peatedly performed  before  crowded 
and  enthusiastic  houses.1 

Thus  disciplined,  thus  instructed 
by    adversity    and    exile,    while   the 

'  In  Spanish  Rule-  in  Cuba  (authorized  trans- 
lation), and  Xnv  Constitutional  La-cs  for  the 
Island  of  Cuba,  iSgj,  both  documents  being 
published  by  authority  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, tribute  is  paid  to  the  great  and  brilliant 
array  of  Cubans  who  have  distinguished  them- 
selves in  every  branch  of  art,  literature,  music, 
history,  science,  and  medicine.  The  truth  con- 
cerning the  remarkable  development  of  this 
people,  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances, 
remains  yet  to  be  revealed. 


©f  tbe  Bnttlles.  49 

Cubans  may,  through  inexperience, 
at  first  make  mistakes,  they  will  not 
prove  themselves  unworthy  of  their 
dearly  bought  liberty. 

No  careful  observer  of  the  events 
of  the  last  thirty  years  can  have 
failed  to  see,  without  increasing  mis- 
givings, into  what  dangers  and  com- 
plications the  Cuban  problem  must 
lead  the  United  States.  The  fires 
lighted  by  two  formidable  and  inter- 
minable insurrections  in  Cuba  have 
endangered  American  lives,  liberty, 
and  property  (amounting  to  millions 
of  dollars). 

Worse  than  the  extensive  loss  to 
commerce  has  been  the  fact,  as 
pointed  out  by  President  McKinley 
in  his  special  message,  dated  April 
11,  1898,  that  "  the  temper  and  for- 
bearance of  our  people  have  been  so 
severely  tried  as  to  beget  a  perilous 
unrest  among  our  own  citizens," 
thus  causing  them  to  pay  attention 
to  the  affairs  of  a  foreign  nation  to 


Cbe  penrl 

the  detriment  of  their  own.  Our 
government  might  expend  millions 
to  enforce  neutrality,  place  our  navy 
OB  .1  semi-war  footing,  and  vigilantly 
cause  our  coast  lines,  thousands  of 
miles  in  extent,  to  be  patrolled  ;  yet, 
the  spirit  of  seventy  million  freemen 
could  not  be  suppressed  :  they  would 
have  been  false  to  their  own  tradi- 
tions if  they  had  not  shown  sympa- 
thy and  given  moral  support  to  a 
brave,  patriotic,  and  heroic  people 
who  were  defending  life,  liberty,  and 
honor  against  overwhelming  odds. 
Hence  the  success  of  the  many 
filibustering  expeditions  which,  in 
defiance  of  international  law,  have 
furnished  the  Cuban  insurgents 
with  the  means  of  continuing  their 
struggle. 

The  wonder  is,  not  that  war  should 
exist  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain,  but  that  the  inevitable  con- 
flict should  have  been  delayed  so 
long.      Twenty-five   years   ago,   the 


©f  tbe  Entitles.  51 

tragedy  of  the  Virginius  almost  pre- 
cipitated an  armed  clash.  More  re- 
cently, the  brutal  murder  of  Dr. 
Ricardo  Ruiz,  an  American  citizen, 
who,  towards  the  close  of  February, 
1897,  was  arrested  on  a  false  charge, 
and,  at  the  end  of  three  hundred  and 
fifteen  hours  of  solitary  confinement 
in  a  Cuban  jail,  was  found  dead  and 
frightfully  mangled,  would  assuredly 
have  led  to  hostilities,  had  not  Mr. 
Cleveland's  firmness,  and  his  desire 
not  to  embarrass  Mr.  McKinley, 
about  to  become  President,  re- 
strained the  just  indignation  of  the 
American  people.  The  case  of  Dr. 
Ruiz  was  peculiarly  atrocious,  as  the 
arbitrary  military  officials  who  caused 
his  arrest  and  death  violated  not 
only  the  treaty  obligations  of  Spain, 
but  even  the  following  guarantees  of 
her  municipal  law : 

"  Under  the  constitution  no  in- 
habitant of  Cuba  may  be  arrested 
except  in  the  cases  and  in  the  man- 


52  Zbe  pearl 

ner  prescribed  by  law.  Within  24 
hours  of  the  arrest  the  prisoner  must 
be  discharged  or  surrendered  to  the 
judicial  authorities ;  thereupon  a 
judge  having  jurisdiction  must, 
within  72  hours,  either  order  the  dis- 
charge of  the  prisoner  or  order  his 
commitment  to  jail.  Within  the 
same  limit  of  time  the  prisoner  must 
be  informed  of  the  decision  in  his 
case.     (Art.  IV.  of  the  Constitution.) 

"  No  Spaniard,  and  consequently 
no  Cuban,  may  be  committed  ex- 
cept upon  the  warrant  of  a  judge 
having  jurisdiction.  Within  72  hours 
of  the  commitment  the  prisoner  must 
be  granted  a  hearing,  and  the  war- 
rant of  commitment  either  sustained 
or  quashed."  (Art.  V.) — Spanish 
Rult  in  Cuba:  "Laws  Governing 
the  Island."  Authorized  transla- 
tion, p.  18. 

The  carnival  of  blood  inaugurated 
by  Weyler,  and  sanctioned  by  his 
superior,  the  late  Canovas,  was  so  aw- 


©t  tbe  Hntilles.  53 

ful  and  unparalleled,  the  slow  starv- 
ing of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
wretched  reconcentrados  so  appall- 
ing, the  massacre  of  wounded  Cu- 
bans in  hospitals  so  incredible,  that 
the  American  nation  refused  to  be- 
lieve the  reports,  which  they  regarded 
as  the  gross  exaggerations  of  rabid 
and  sensational  newspapers.  The 
country  was  deeply  stirred  when 
President  McKinley  requested  Con- 
gress to  appropriate  $50,000  in  order 
to  rescue  several  thousand  inoffen- 
sive Americans  who  were  starving  in 
Cuba.  Nevertheless,  so  great  was 
our  forbearance,  that,  the  reactionary 
Canovas  having  been  killed  by  an 
anarchist,  and  the  Liberal  party 
having  gained  the  ascendency,  we 
desired  Spain  to  have  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  prove  the  efficacy  of  recall- 
ing Weyler,  adopting  a  policy  of 
conciliation,  and  offering  Cuba  more 
extensive  reforms.  Although  Blanco 
proved  to  be  a  far  better  ruler  than 


54  Cbe  pearl 

Weyier,  the  insurrection  continued 
with  all  its  desolation.  At  Christ- 
mas, President  McKinley,  having  won 
the  co-operation  of  Sagasta  and  the 
Spanish  Cabinet,  issued  an  appeal  to 
the  American  people,  calling  upon 
them  to  contribute  money,  food, 
clothing,  and  medicine  for  the  relief 
of  the  perishing  non-combatants  of 
the  island.  How  nobly  America  re- 
sponded need  not  be  told.  The 
splendid  efforts  of  Clara  Barton,  the 
Red  Cross  Society,  and  Consul-Gen- 
eral  Lee  produced  some  ameliora- 
tion, but  so  wide-spread  was  the 
destitution,  that  what  they  accom- 
plished was  like  using  a  bucket 
of  water  for  extinguishing  a  large 
conflagration.  In  the  midst  of  this 
work  of  peaceful  philanthropy  came, 
on  the  night  of  February  15th,  the 
terrific  explosion  of  the  United  States 
battleship  Maine,  in  the  harbor  of 
Havana,  whither,  by  invitation  of  the 
Madrid  government,  she  had  repaired 


©f  tbe  Hnttlles.  55 

on  a  friendly  visit.  Two  hundred 
and  fifty-eight  men  and  two  officers 
were  killed,  and  many  other  marines 
wounded.  The  Americans  displayed, 
in  their  hour  of  mourning,  calmness, 
dignity,  and  self-restraint.  They 
firmly  refused  to  pass  judgment,  but 
patiently  waited  until  a  board  of 
naval  experts,  after  a  painstaking 
examination  which  extended  over  a 
month,  rendered  the  verdict  that  the 
vessel  had  been  blown  up  by  exter- 
nal agency,  though  who  were  the  per- 
petrators could  not  be  discovered. 
Regarding  this  catastrophe,  Presi- 
dent McKinley  says : 

"  In  any  event  the  destruction  of 
the  Maine,  by  whatever  exterior 
cause,  is  a  patent  and  impressive 
proof  of  a  state  of  things  in  Cuba 
that  is  intolerable.  That  condition 
is  thus  shown  to  be  such  that  the 
Spanish  government  cannot  assure 
safety  and  security  to  a  vessel  of  the 
American  navy  in  the  harbor  of  Ha- 


56  rjbe  peacl 

vana  on  amission  of  peace  and  right- 
fully there." — Special  Message,  April 
ii,  1898. 

The  appalling  explosion  of  the 
Maine  naturally  aroused  a  feeling  of 
deep  resentment  ;  nevertheless,  there 
was  a  strong  undercurrent  in  favor  of 
submitting  the  question  of  responsi- 
bility and  indemnity  to  an  interna- 
tional tribunal  of  arbitration.  But 
what  about  the  revolting  stories  of 
Cuban  outrages?  Were  they  true, 
or  had  the  press  indulged  in  wild 
exaggeration  for  the  sake  of  money- 
making  sensationalism  ?  No  sophis- 
try that  it  did  not  concern  the  United 
States  whether  such  outrages  had 
been  committed,  would  satisfy  the 
American  people.  Senator  Proctor, 
of  Vermont,  who  had  been  a  member 
of  Ex-President  Harrison's  Cabinet, 
and  is  a  trusted  friend  of  President 
McKinley,  felt  that  the  people  were 
right,  and  determined  to  go  to  Cuba 
and  investigate  for  himself.     The  re- 


Ot  tbe  Antilles.  57 

suit  of  careful  inquiries  and  personal 
observation  proved  to  him  that  the 
indescribably  frightful  state  of  affairs 
could  not  be  exaggerated.  After  he 
had  returned  to  Washington  he  de- 
livered, on  the  17th  of  March,  in  the 
Senate,  a  speech  on  Cuba  which  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  entire 
country.  A  man  of  ripe  judgment, 
and  devoid  of  the  fervid  eloquence  of 
his  colleague,  Senator  Thurston,  of 
Nebraska,  who  spoke,  a  week  later, 
on  the  same  subject,  his  calm,  dispas- 
sionate address  carried  conviction. 
Among  other  things  he  said  : 

"  Of  the  hospitals  I  need  not 
speak.  Others  have  described  their 
condition  far  better  than  I  can.  It 
is  not  within  the  narrow  limits  of  my 
vocabulary  to  portray  it.  I  went  to 
Cuba  with  a  strong  conviction  that 
the  picture  had  been  overdrawn  ; 
that  a  few  cases  of  starvation  and 
suffering  had  inspired  and  stimulated 
the   press  correspondents,  and  they 


58  ftbc  pearl 

had  given  free  play  to  a  strong, 
natural,  and  highly  cultivated  imag- 
ination. 

"  Before  starting  I  received  through 
the  mail  a  leaflet  published  by  the 
Christian  Herald,  with  cuts  of  some 
of  the  sick  and  starving  reconcen- 
trados,  and  took  it  with  me,  think- 
ing these  rare  specimens,  got  up  to 
make  the  worst  possible  showing.  I 
saw  plenty  as  bad,  and  worse  ;  many 
that  should  not  be  photographed  and 
shown.  I  could  not  believe  that,  out 
of  a  population  of  1,600,000,  200,000 
had  died  within  the  Spanish  forts — 
practically  prison  walls — within  a  few 
months  past,  from  actual  starvation 
and  diseases  caused  by  insufficient 
and  improper  food. 

"  My  inquiries  were  entirely  out- 
side of  sensation  sources.  They  were 
made  of  our  medical  officers,  of  our 
consuls,  of  city  alcaldes  (mayors),  of 
relief  committees,  of  leading  mer- 
chants and  bankers,  physicians  and 


©t  tbe  Snttlles,  59 

lawyers.  Several  of  my  informants 
were  Spanish  born,  but  every  time 
the  answer  was  that  the  case  had  not 
been  overstated.  What  I  saw  I  can- 
not tell  so  others  can  see  it.  It  must 
be  seen  with  one's  own  eyes  to  be 
realized.  The  Los  Pasos  Hospital, 
in  Havana,  I  saw,  when  four  hundred 
women  and  children  were  lying  on 
the  stone  floors  in  an  indescribable 
state  of  emaciation  and  disease,  many 
with  the  scantiest  covering  of  rags — 
and  such  rags  !  Sick  children,  naked 
as  they  came  into  the  world.  And 
the  conditions  in  the  other  cities  are 
even  worse." 

Speaking  of  the  relief  extended 
through  Miss  Clara  Barton  and 
American  consular  officers,  Senator 
Proctor   adds  : 

"  When  will  the  need  for  this  help 
end  ?  Not  until  peace  comes  and 
the  reconcentrados  can  go  back  to 
their  country,  rebuild  their  homes, 
reclaim    their    tillage    plots,    which 


6o  Gbc  pearl 

quickly  run  up  to  brush  in  that  won- 
derful soil  and  clime,  and  until  they 
can  be  free  from  danger  of  molesta- 
tion in  so  doing.  Until  then,  the 
American  people  must,  in  the  main, 
care  for  them.  It  is  true  that  the 
alcaldes,  other  local  authorities  and 
relief  committees  are  now  trying  to 
do  something,  and  desire,  I  believe, 
to  do  the  best  they  can,  but  the  pro- 
blem is  beyond  their  means  and  ca- 
pacity and  the  work  is  one  to  which 
they  are  not  accustomed. 

"  Gen.  Blanco's  order  of  Nov.  13th 
last  somewhat  modifies  the  Weyler 
order,  but  is  of  little  or  no  practical 
benefit.  Its  execution  is  completely 
in  the  discretion  of  the  local  military 
authorities,  and  though  the  order 
was  issued  four  months  ago,  I  saw  no 
beneficent  results  from  it  worth  men- 
tioning. I  do  not  impugn  Gen.  Blan- 
co's motives,  and  believe  him  to  be 
an  amiable  gentleman,  and  that  he 
would  be  glad  to   relieve  the  situa- 


©f  tbe  Snttlles.  61 

tion  of  the  reconcentrados  if  he  could 
do  so  without  loss  of  any  military 
advantage,  but  he  knows  that  all 
Cubans  are  insurgents  at  heart,  and 
none  now  under  military  control 
will  be  allowed  to  go  from  under 
it." 

Summing  up,  the  Senator  con- 
cludes  as    follows : 

"  The  dividing  lines  between  par- 
ties are  the  most  straight  and  clear- 
cut  that  have  ever  come  to  my 
knowledge.  It  is  Cuban  against 
Spaniard.  It  is  practically  the  entire 
Cuban  population  on  one  side  and 
the  Spanish  army  and  Spanish  citi- 
zens on  the  other.  I  do  not  count 
the  autonomists  in  this  division,  as 
they  are  so  far  too  inconsiderable  in 
numbers  to  be  worth  counting.  Gen. 
Blanco  filled  the  civil  offices  with  men 
who  had  been  autonomists  and  were 
still  classed  as  such.  But  the  march 
of  events  had  satisfied  most  of  them 
that  the  chance  for  autonomy  came 


Gbc  pearl 

too  late.  It  falls  as  talk  of  compro- 
mise would  have  fallen  in  the  last 
year  or  two  of  our  war.  If  it  stands, 
it  can  only  be  by  armed  force ;  but 
triumph  of  the  Spanish  army  and  the 
success  of  the  Spanish  arms  would  be 
easier  by  Weyler's  policy  and  method, 
for  in  that  the  Spanish  army  and  peo- 
ple believe.  The  army  and  the  Span- 
ish citizens  do  not  want  genuine 
autonomy,  for  that  means  govern- 
ment by  the  Cuban  people.  And  it 
is  not  strange  that  the  Cubans  say  it 
comes  too  late.  I  inquired  in  regard 
to  autonomy,  of  men  of  wealth  and 
men  as  prominent  in  business  as  any 
in  the  cities  of  Havana,  Matanzas, 
and  Sagua,  bankers,  merchants,  law- 
yers, and  autonomist  officials,  some 
of  them  Spanish  born  but  Cuban 
bred,  one  prominent  Englishman, 
several  of  them  known  as  autonom- 
ists, and  several  of  them  telling  me 
they  were  still  believers  in  autonomy 
if  practicable,  but,  without  exception, 


01  tbe  Antilles.  63 

they  all  replied  that  it  was  '  too 
late '  for  that. 

"  Some  favored  a  United  States 
protectorate,  some  annexation,  some 
free  Cuba.  Not  one  has  been 
counted  favoring  the  insurrection  at 
first.  They  were  business  men,  and 
wanted  peace,  but  said  it  was  too  late 
for  peace  under  Spanish  sovereignty. 
They  characterized  Weyler's  order 
in  far  stronger  terms  than  I  can.  I 
could  not  but  conclude  that  you  do 
not  have  to  scratch  an  autonomist 
very  deep  to  find  a  Spaniard. 

"  I  have  endeavored  to  state  in  no 
intemperate  mood  what  I  saw  and 
heard,  and  to  make  no  argument 
thereon,  but  leave  every  one  to  draw 
his  own  conclusions.  To  me  the 
strongest  appeal  is  not  the  barbarity 
practised  by  Weyler,  nor  the  loss  of 
the  Maine,  if  our  worst  fears  should 
prove  true,  terrible  as  are  both  of 
these  incidents,  but  the  spectacle  of 
a  million  and  a  half  of  people,  the 


64  Cbe  pearl 

entire  native  population  of  Cuba, 
struggling  for  freedom  and  deliver- 
ance from  the  worst  misgovernment 
of  which  I  ever  had  knowledge. 

"  But  whether  our  action  ought  to 
be  influenced  by  any  one  or  all  these 
things,  and  if  so,  how  far,  is  another 
question.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  an- 
nexation, not  because  I  would  ap- 
prehend any  particular  trouble  from 
it,  but  because  it  is  not  wise  policy 
to  take  in  any  entire  people  of  for- 
eign tongue  and  training  and  with- 
out any  strong  guiding  American 
element. 

"  The  fear  that,  if  free,  the  people 
of  Cuba  would  be  revolutionary  is 
not  so  well  founded  as  has  been 
supposed,  and  the  conditions  for 
good  self-government  are  far  more 
favorable.  The  large  number  of  ed- 
ucated and  patriotic  men,  the  great 
sacrifices  they  have  endured,  the 
peaceable  temperament  of  the  peo- 
ple, whites  and  blacks,  the  wonderful 


©f  tbe  antWes.  65 

prosperity  that  would  surely  come 
with  peace  and  good  home  rule,  the 
large  influx  of  Americans  and  Eng- 
lish, immigration  and  money,  would 
all  be  strong  factors  for  stable  insti- 
tutions. 

"  But  it  is  not  my  purpose  at  this 
time,  nor  do  I  consider  it  my  pro- 
vince, to  suggest  any  plan.  I  merely 
speak  of  the  symptoms  as  I  saw  them, 
but  do  not  undertake  to  prescribe. 
Such  remedial  steps  as  may  be  re- 
quired may  safely  be  left  to  an 
American  President  and  the  Ameri- 
can people." 

What  Senator  Proctor  stated  in  re- 
gard to  the  failure  of  autonomy  had 
long  become  the  conviction  of  those 
who  had  most  closely  studied  the 
Cuban  problem.  The  welfare  of 
Spain,  as  well  as  of  Cuba,  demanded 
that  the  island  should  be  free  and  in- 
dependent. It  thus  became  the  duty 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  bend  all  diplomatic  efforts  to  this 


66  Zbe  pearl 

end,  and  remove  the  great  source  of 
the  chronic  insurrections  whose  dis- 
astrous effects  endangered  the  peace 
and  security  of  our  country.  But 
those  who  were  most  intimate  with 
the  intricacies  of  Spanish  politics 
knew  that  Spain  would  never  sur- 
render her  control  over  Cuba  except 
through  force  of  arms.  If  Cuba  were 
ever  to  be  contented,  happy,  and 
free,  it  must  be  through  the  armed 
intervention  of  some  foreign  power, 
and  that  power  could  be  none  other 
than  the  United  States,  who,  by  for- 
bidding European  interference  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  had  pledged 
herself  to  vindicate  there  the  rights 
of  humanity.  The  time  had  come 
which  President  Grant  foresaw  in 
1875,  and  of  which  Mr.  Cleveland, 
in  his  masterly  annual  message  to 
Congress  (December,  1896),  declared  : 
"  When  the  inability  of  Spain  to 
deal  successfully  with  the  insurrec- 
tion has  become  manifest  and  it  is 


©r  tbe  BntUles.  67 

demonstrated  that  her  sovereignty 
is  extinct  in  Cuba  for  all  purposes  of 
its  rightful  existence,  and  when  a 
hopeless  struggle  for  its  re-establish- 
ment has  degenerated  into  a  strife 
which  means  nothing  more  than  the 
useless  sacrifice  of  human  life  and 
the  utter  destruction  of  that  very 
subject  matter  of  the  conflict,  a  situ- 
ation will  be  presented  in  which  our 
obligations  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Spain  will  be  superseded  by  higher 
obligations  which  we  can  hardly  hesi- 
tate to  recognize  and  discharge." 

On  the  nth  of  April,  President 
McKinley  sent  to  Congress  a  special 
message,  in  which  he  carefully  re- 
viewed the  Cuban  situation,  reported 
the  failure  of  negotiations  to  produce 
an  adjustment  honorable  to  Cuba 
and  conducive  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  United  States,  and  recom- 
mended that  he  be  empowered  to 
employ,  if  necessary,  the  military  and 
naval    forces    to    establish  a  proper 


68  Che  pearl 

and  stable  government  in  Cuba.  The 
reasons  for  intervention  are  thus  co- 
gently stated  : 

"  First,  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  to  put  an  end  to  the  barbarities, 
bloodshed,  starvation  and  horrible 
miseries  now  existing  there,  and 
which  the  parties  to  the  conflict  are 
either  unable  or  unwilling  to  stop  or 
mitigate.  It  is  no  answer  to  say  this 
is  all  in  another  country  belonging 
to  another  nation,  and  is  therefore 
none  of  our  business.  It  is  specially 
our  duty,  for  it  is  right  at  our  door. 

"  Second,  we  owe  it  to  our  citizens 
in  Cuba  to  afford  them  that  protec- 
tion and  indemnity  for  life  and  pro- 
perty which  no  government  there 
can,  or  will,  afford,  and  to  that  end 
to  terminate  the  conditions  that  de- 
prive them  of  legal  protection. 

"  Third,  the  right  to  intervene  may 
be  justified  by  the  very  serious  in- 
jury to  the  commerce,  trade,  and 
business  of  our  people,  and  by  the 


Ot  tbe  Bntllles.  69 

wanton  destruction  of  property  and 
devastation  of  the  island. 

"  Fourth,  and  which  is  of  the  ut- 
most importance.  The  present  con- 
dition of  affairs  of  Cuba  is  a  constant 
menace  to  our  peace,  and  entails 
upon  this  government  an  enormous 
expense.  With  such  a  conflict  waged 
for  years  in  an  island  so  near  us  and 
with  which  our  people  have  such 
trade  and  business  relations ;  where 
the  lives  and  liberty  of  our  citizens 
are  in  constant  danger  and  their 
property  destroyed  and  themselves 
ruined  ;  where  our  trading  vessels  are 
liable  to  seizure  and  are  seized  at 
our  very  door,  by  warships  of  the 
foreign  nation,  the  expeditions  of 
filibustering  that  we  are  powerless 
altogether  to  prevent,  and  the  irri- 
tating questions  and  entanglements 
thus  arising  ;  all  these  and  others  that 
I  need  not  mention,  with  the  result- 
ing strained  relations,  are  a  constant 
menace  to  our  peace  and  compel  us 


70  Zbc  pearl 

to  keep  on  a  semi-war  footing  with 
a  war  nation  with  which  we  are  at 
peace." 

Together  with  his  message,  Mr. 
McKinlcy  submitted  the  reports  of 
General  Lee  and  other  United  States 
consuls  stationed  in  various  parts  of 
Cuba.  Their  exact  and  carefully 
prepared  statements  removed  the 
last  lingering  doubts  as  to  the  real- 
ity of  the  suffering,  wretchedness, 
and  torture  endured  by  the  reeon- 
centrados,  of  whom  fully  200,000 
had  perished.  That  the  American 
nation  could  no  longer  tolerate  such 
barbarities  was  a  foregone  conclusion. 
To  be  sure,  Captain-General  Blanco 
had  just  revoked  completely  Wey- 
ler's  reconcentration  decree,  and  had 
even  promised  to  assist  the  feeble 
survivors  to  return  to  their  farms, 
but,  with  guerrillas  liable  to  attack 
them  at  any  moment,  of  what  avail 
was  this  concession  ?  The  Spanish 
government      empowered      General 


®f  tbe  Antilles.  71 

Blanco  to  suspend  hostilities,  enter 
into  an  armistice  with  the  insurgents, 
and  offer  still  broader  terms  of  au- 
tonomy or  home  rule.  The  insur- 
rectionists rejected  the  proposals,  for 
the  good  reason  that  they  dared  not 
trust  a  nation  like  Spain,  which  had 
so  often  failed  to  keep  its  promises. 
They  were  no  more  to  be  blamed  for 
their  decision  than  were  the  Ameri- 
can colonists,  when,  in  1778,  they  re- 
jected the  proposals  of  Lord  North, 
who,  in  the  name  of  George  III., 
offered  them  everything  except  in- 
dependence. 

That  war  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States  was  inevitable  grew 
daily  more  evident,  in  spite  of  the 
friendly  offers  of  the  European  Pow- 
ers and  of  the  Pope  to  mediate. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  the  anni- 
versary of  Concord  and  Lexington, 
where,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three 
years  ago,  the  first  battle  for  Ameri- 
can independence  had  been  fought, 


72  Cbe  pearl 

Congress  passed  its  celebrated  Cuban 
resolutions,  which  were  duly  signed 
by  the  President.  They  read  as 
follows: 

"  Resolved,  By  the  Senate  and 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Con- 
gress assembled — 

''First — That  the  people  of  the 
Island  of  Cuba  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  free  and  independent. 

"  Second — That  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  United  States  to  demand,  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States 
does  hereby  demand,  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Spain  at  once  relinquish 
its  authority  and  government  in  the 
Island  of  Cuba  and  withdraw  its  land 
and  naval  forces  from  Cuba  and 
Cuban  waters. 

"  Third — That  the  President  of 
the  United  States  be,  and  he  hereby 
is,  directed  and  empowered  to  use 
the  entire  land  and  naval  forces  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  call  into 


($>t  tbe  Bntillee.  73 

the  actual  service  of  the  United 
States  the  militia  of  the  several  States 
to  such  extent  as  may  be  necessary 
to  carry  these  resolutions  into  effect. 

"  Fourth — That  the  United  States 
hereby  disclaims  any  disposition  or 
intention  to  exercise  sovereignty, 
jurisdiction  or  control  over  said  is- 
land, except  for  the  pacification  there- 
of, and  asserts  its  determination, 
when  that  is  accomplished,  to  leave 
the  government  and  control  of  the 
island  to  its  people." 

Immediately  after  the  resolutions 
became  a  law,  the  President  sent 
them  to  Madrid,  with  an  ultimatum 
that,  if,  by  noon,  April  23d,  a  satis- 
factory reply  were  not  received  from 
the  Spanish  government,  he  would 
proceed  to  carry  them  into  effect. 
Prime  Minister  Sagasta,  knowing  al- 
ready their  nature,  did  not  allow 
our  Ambassador,  Mr.  Woodford,  an 
opportunity  to  present  them,  but  de- 
livered to  him  his  passports.     Diplo- 


7i  Gbc  pearl 

matlC  relations  were  thus  completely 
broken  off,  and  war  was  declared 
(April  21  i.  The  United  States  pre- 
pared to  fulfil  its  mission  for  the 
liberation  of  Cuba. 

The  consequences  of  the  war  will 
indeed  be  far-reaching.  The  United 
States  have  already  abundantly 
proved  their  military  and  naval  prow- 
ess, but  the  crucial  test  will  be,  what 
use  they  will  make  of  their  victories. 
If  they  are  misled,  and  join  the  Pow- 
ers of  Europe  in  the  lust  of  ter- 
ritorial, colonial,  and  commercial 
extension,  their  decadence  will  surely 
set  in.  If,  however,  they  remain  true 
to  the  traditions  of  Washington,  Jef- 
ferson, Madison,  and  Monroe,  they 
will  loosen  the  fetters  of  millions  of 
the  oppressed  in  the  Old  and  New- 
Worlds,  and  carry  to  the  darkest 
corners  the  torch  of  order,  liberty, 
enlightenment,  and  prosperity.  Ani- 
mated by  such  a  spirit,  their  moral 
influence  will  be  felt  in  establishing 


©f  tbe  Bnttlles.  75 

an  international  court,  before  which 
all  nations  shall  arbitrate  their  dis- 
putes, and  the  horrors  and  tragedy 
of  war  shall  become  an  impossibility. 
Teaching  a  strict  adherence  to  the 
instincts  of  justice,  righteousness, 
and  mercy,  they  will  so  broaden  the 
scope  of  international  law  and  obli- 
gations, that  barbarities  such  as  have 
stained  and  blackened  the  closing 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  will 
never  again  be  permitted  to  occur. 


APPENDIX. 


SAGASTA'S  decree  of  autonomy 
was  published  in  the  official 
Gazette  of  Madrid,  November  25, 
1897.  An  English  translation  is 
given  in  the  supplement  of  No.  3,  of 
Cuba,  a  newspaper  published  in  the 
interests  of  the  Cuban  autonomists 
and  the  Spanish  government,  the 
office  of  publication  being,  before 
the  declaration  of  war,  in  New  York 
City.  The  decree  has  its  meritori- 
ous points,  but,  by  Article  15  of  Title 
V.,  the  Governor-General  shall,  in 
the  King's  name,  convene,  suspend, 
and  adjourn  the  sessions  of  either  or 
both  houses  of  the  Cuban  parliament, 
though  he  must  call  them  together 
77 


78  Gbe  pearl 

again,  or  renew  them,  within  three 
months.  By  article  27  of  the  same 
title,  a  member  of  the  parliament  is 
subject  to  arrest  and  punishment  if  he 
admits  that  "  he  is  the  author  of  any 
article,  book,  pamphlet  or  printed 
matter  wherein  military  sedition  is 
incited  or  invoked,  or  the  Governor- 
General  is  insulted  and  maligned,  or 
national  sovereignty  is  assailed."  If 
there  were  such  a  constitutional  re- 
striction upon  freedom  of  speech  in 
our  country,  Senator  Wellington,  of 
Maryland,  who  recently  severely  ar- 
raigned the  United  States  govern- 
ment for  forcing  war  upon  Spain, 
would  be  very  hardly  dealt  with. 

Article  30  gives  to  the  Captain- 
General  authority  to  refer  to  the 
home  government  of  Spain  any  bill 
or  measure  "  whenever  said  bill  may 
affect  national  interests."  If  such 
bill  originate  in  the  insular  parlia- 
ment, "  the  Government  of  the  is- 
land shall  ask  for  a  postponement  of 


6f  tbe  Snttllea.  79 

the  debate  until  the  home  govern- 
ment shall  have  given  its  opinion." 
By  article  35,  the  Cuban  congress 
must  vote  that  part  of  the  budget 
necessary  "  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  sovereignty,"  and  no  local  appro- 
priations can  be  considered  before 
the  part  for  the  maintenance  of  Span- 
ish sovereignty  has  been  voted.  In 
this  matter  of  her  quota  of  the  na- 
tional expenses,  Cuba  has  no  voice, 
for,  by  article  36,  "  the  Cortes  of  the 
Kingdom  shall  determine  what  ex- 
penditures are  to  be  considered  by 
reason  of  their  nature  as  obligatory 
expenses  inherent  to  sovereignty, 
and  shall  fix  the  amount  every  three 
years  and  the  revenue  needed  to  de- 
fray the  same,  the  Cortes  reserving 
the  right  to  alter  this  rule." 

Considering  how  illiberal  Spanish 
legislation  relating  to  commerce  has 
often  been,  Sagasta  gives  the  Cuban 
government  and  parliament  much 
latitude   to    enact    commercial   laws 


80  dbe  pearl 

and  secure  favorable  commercial 
treaties. 

Unfortunately,  these  and  all  the 
other  good  provisions  of  the  decree 
are  nullified  by  still  investing  the  su- 
preme authority  in  the  Governor- 
General,  and  providing  that  "  all 
other  authorities  in  the  island  shall 
be  subordinate  to  his,  and  he  shall 
be  responsible  for  the  preservation  of 
order  and  the  safety  of  the  colony  " 
(Article  41). 

Paragraph  4  of  article  42  enables 
him  to  suspend  several  provisions  of 
the  constitution,  and  empowers  him 
"  to  enforce  legislation  in  regard  to 
public  order  and  to  take  all  measures 
which  he  may  deem  necessary  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  within  and  the  safety 
without  for  the  territory  entrusted  to 
him,  after  hearing  the  counsel  of  his 
Cabinet." 

In  regard  to  the  debt  weighing  so 
heavily  upon  her,  Cuba  has  no  power 
to  make  an  equitable  readjustment, 


©f  tbe  Bnttllea.  81 

nor  to  change  the  method  of  payment 
of  interest  or  principal :  all  such  mat- 
ters depending  upon  the  decision  of 
the  Spanish  Cortes  (Article  2  of  the 
Transitory  Provisions). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Diccionario-Encyclopedi,  Hispano- Americano. 
Barcelona,  1892. 

A.  Larousse  :  Dictionnaire  encyelopJdie. 
Paris,  1869. 

R.  R.  Madden:  The  Island  of  Cuba.  Lon- 
don, 1853. 

R.  M.  Merchan:  Cuba:  Justification  de  su 
Guerra  de  Independcncia.  Bogota  (Colombia), 
1896. 

Messages  of  Presidents  Grant,  Cleveland,  and 
McKinley. 

New  Constitution  for  the  Islands  of  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico.  Sagasta's  decree,  published  in 
official  Gazette,  Madrid,  November  25,  1897. 
English  translation  in  the  supplement  to  Cuba, 
No.  3,  New  York. 

New  Constitutional  Laws  for  the  Island  of 
Cuba.     New  York,  1897. 

Parliamentary  Papers,  1861.  Report  of  Mr. 
Joseph  Crawford,  British  Consul  at  Havana,  on 
the  Cuba  Slave  Traffic.     London,  1861. 

83 


84 


Stblioarapbg. 


Fidel  G.  Pierra:  Cuba:  Physical  Features 
of  Cuba;  Her  Past,  Present,  and  Possible  Fu- 
ture.    New  York,  1896. 

A.  S.  Rowan  and  M.  M.  Ramsay  :  The 
Island  of  Cuba.  Henry  Hoyt  and  Co.,  New 
York,  1897. 

Spanish  Rule  in  Cuba.  Authorized  transla- 
tion.    New  York,  1896. 

Speech  of  Senator  Proctor,  of  Vermont,  deliv- 
ered in  U.  S.  Senate,  March  17,  1898. 

U.  S.  Consular  Reports  on  Cuba,  1898. 


UNIV.  vr  w\ur.  lid^im 


